Kabbe Hills and Chomakund Trek, Coorg

Unexplored Coorg (2) Kabbe Hills and Chomakund Trek

This time we had planned for Kabbe Hill trek a winter trek in Brahmagiri wildlife Sanctuary. Early in the morning, we 6 including Varali trooped into the car and were soon on our way. The winding drive began almost as soon as we left the Madikeri city. 

Our drive would take us through narrow road surrounded by coffee estates and forests. After a short drive we reached to the forest gate. We parked out vehicle soon after we set foot on the trail. There is an old forest road that makes a spur off of Kabbe hill. With the bare minimum essentials, we started to hike with the sounds of the flowing streams and chipping birds with accompany of squirrels.

After ten minute’s walk we came into sweeping lawn area situated between two hills. The first one third of the trek was a gentle climb along the unevenly laid stone path. The weather was crystalline sunny and dry, the views were breath-taking at every turn, so our spirits soared.

The next one third of the trail was steeper. The stones were cast about loosely, and there was no telling which one was firmly anchored and which one would give way. We stepped gingerly, testing the stability of each stone stepped on. 

The trail was a continuous ascend of about 30minutes that took us to the summit. The moment we reached summit; we were speechless. The view that we were seeing was beyond any imagination. We sat there and finished 2 watermelons. During my previous trek to this hill fog covered the entire peak so I had no clue how the views were from the peak. I was lucky this time that I got a small weather is clear and views were now even more spectacular. 

We enjoyed the beauty, took some photographs and headed towards next Summit. We kept going and soon entered the final one-third of the trek, which was a gradual descent in edge of the mountain towards rocky hill. Thick trees and spiky bushes made questing off path difficult.

This was undoubtedly the best part of the trek. This is also a place for rock scrambling over the large boulders from the summit.

From top we treated to views of beautiful Udumbe forest valley as you look to the west edge of the hills and another hill Bylikere hill and Chomakundu hill ranges. On clear days you can see portion of villages of Kerala state that sit many miles to the west. With an amazing view, brought me out of the temporary dream I was living in, back to reality.

The downward trek, especially the middle third, was even more treacherous than on the way up, because this time the consequences of a misstep could cost us more dearly. We took it slow and still made it back to the old forest road. 

The downward trek, especially the middle third, was even more treacherous than on the way up, because this time the consequences of a misstep could cost us more dearly. We took it slow and still made it back to the old forest road. 

We decided to climb an adjacent hill that look less tall, soon after we followed the forest road towards the Kabbe Hill view point. It took us half an hour to reach the view point. This place also called as 1st stage of Chomakundu Hill. We need to climb two more hills to reach Chomakunda or Choma Bett peak. 

That moment I was just awestruck by the huge Kabbe Hill standing behind us and Chomakund hill from another side of the view point. Few tourists there on Kabbe view point and fog cleared up and revealed the magnificent landscapes with no time fog took over the entire landscape. The clouds have started to darken indicating it was time to leave. The way down was adventurous as the path was quite slippery and everyone fell at least once. 

On our way back, we visited Haluhole falls and Chelavara falls. We need to do little bit of trekking to reach both the falls. We were able to see the falls from the distance. We took photos there and came back to Kakkabe village.